Talking of good parenting, over those few hot days last week I was almost certain that the swallows had abandoned their nest and their four young! After a flurry of activity when the babies first appeared over the rim of the nest above the studio window all went quiet and the adults were hardly to be seen. Last year the baby birds failed to fledge and it looked like the same thing was happening again. I had moved the table and chairs to another part of the garden in case my presence there was disturbing them.
I was so relieved and delighted this morning to see all four - looking suddenly much bigger and very healthy being fed, and sitting on the edge of the nest stretching their wings. It made my day and I didn't mind that the weather is misty and cloudy if it meant that there were now plenty of midgies for the swallows!
There are wrens nesting in the clematis above the study window, and I think I see a few young robins hopping about.
It feels like a privilege to have wild creatures so close.